Five parental lessons we have learned from Dineo Ranaka’s dad

It’s Father’s Day this Sunday and we look at five lessons we have learned from Dineo Ranaka’s dad about being a great father.

Many of us got to meet Kgotlaesele Ranaka, the father of Dineo and Manaka, on the family’s reality show ‘The Ranakas’.

The 70something-year-old appeared on ‘Real Talk With Anele’ show with his daughter Dineo, for a Father’s Day special episode and shared some of the ingredients that make him the incredible father he is.

Speaking about her dad, Dineo described him as a man with “a beautiful soul that protects that which is his”.

“One prominent memory, when I first started my menstrual cycle, he was the first person who knew about it and he was the first person to buy me sanitary towels. He taught me how to use sanitary towels and for me that was such a humbling moment and it was such an eye-opening moment cause usually that would be, according to the societal script, the responsibility of the mom. He made me feel so comfortable with myself and the changes my body was going through,” said Dineo.

“My father has set the standard so high for family service delivery that I cannot ever in my life tolerate a man with no spine, a man with commitment issues, a man with no intellectual capacity. You come into my life, you must know your story because I was raised by a man who knows his story as a man,” Dineo told Anele.

In celebration of Father’s Day, we look at five lessons we have learned from Dineo Ranaka’s dad about being a great father.

Be a support system for your children

“The more they are in trouble or they are troubled, is the closer I must be with them so that I must give them the support. If they fall, I must be there. It’s either I collapse with them or they fall onto me,” he said proudly.

Raise them to be strong

“When I raised them, my children, especially the girls because they came before the boys, three of them, I made sure that they would have to stand against intimidation because I did not see my mother fight and defend herself. She was always running away from this man (step-father). Now I said I am not going to raise girl children, since I have girl children, to be intimidated like my mother was. So, whatever happens, they have to stand strong.”

Never abandon your children

“Any of my children, if anything happens to them in terms of behaviour, or they are unfortunate, it is the way life is. I accept that. U cannot abandon children. I cannot lose hope.”

Raise them to stand up for their rights

“I raise a girl to be a woman. I say to my children, girl children, ‘you stand up for your rights. You stand up for your womanhood’. That’s all there’s to it. They should not be intimidated by boys, or man or anything.”

Teach your children to be proud of who they are

“Be who you are, be what you are and don’t allow anybody to tell you, you are ugly, to tell you, you are stupid,” he said.